On That Friday

That was a Friday. It had been a week since I have joined TCS as an associate. The week went well with all the classes and the joining formalities. On that day everything started as per schedule and I started to the office with my bag which contained all my original certificates and the photocopies. Actually, there was no need of carrying the originals or even the photocopies for that matter, but I carried them for my safety. I, being a lazy person thought of leaving the certificates in room but I have changed my opinion as one of my friends warned me against that as that day was the last of my first week at TCS and it would be better if I carried them for the last time. This was indeed a trap which unfolded late in the day.

            There was nothing particularly significant on that day in the office and we left the office to our friend’s room as we have planned earlier. We discussed many things at his room, had a lot of fun and slept for some time. It was almost 7 pm when we started to our room. The bag was still with me and I got a call on the way. It was an important one with a lot of interesting information and hence grabbed all my attention. We got into the bus, my friends found seats but I was left alone standing. I gave away my bag to my friend and stood freely and continued my discussion on phone. After sometime I found a seat and  as I was still talking I did not take back my bag from my friend, in fact I was  so much involved in the discussion that I forgot my bag’s presence completely. During this process, my friends engaged themselves in some interesting conversation and literally forgot about my presence. It took some 15 minutes to reach our destination and finally I ended the call by that time.

            We were very hungry and so headed to our favorite restaurant before going to the room. One of my friend commented about the sweat on my back and that was when I came to know that there was no bag on my back. I was terrified and enquired about it with the other friend, to whom I have handed it over during the journey and to my horror he did not even remember that I gave a bag to him in the bus. I started to panic as there were all the important certificates along with my newly issued id card, my pan card and what not. Even my friends were equally bothered as they came to know about it and we were desperate to find the most precious thing of my life. Yes, it was the most precious thing in my life as it contained all my credentials and I was clever enough to leave nothing in the room, not even the photocopies.

            After this we started our retrieval plans, although we were panic-stricken none of us showed it but we were quick enough to catch the next bus. I consider myself as a fortunate person in those unfortunate circumstances as we had the ticket issued by the conductor of the bus in which we travelled. It was indeed a talisman for me. To add to my woes none of us knew Malayalam and only one among us could manage Tamil. We showed the ticket to the conductor of the present bus and somehow managed to explain about the incident. He was confused at first but later understood the problem and after carefully observing my talisman, told that both the previous bus and the present one belonged to the same depot, added to it that it was headed to the depot as that was its last trip and this bus was also going to the depot. This relieved some amount of tension but by that time my mind started thinking about the various processes involved in getting back the lost documents. I somehow had the knowledge that getting back the lost certificates was one of the most tedious tasks and if at all I failed in the pursuit of my bag I had to go through each and every process. We waited impatiently till we reached the bus depot. It took 20 minutes to reach our new destination, the KSRTC bus depot, Trivandrum.

            We got down as soon as we reached the depot and started searching for the bus. We met a good number of workers there and came to know that the bus we were so desperate to find hadn’t arrived till then. We explained the problem to the depot manager and he was kind enough to help us and comforted me saying that there were good chances of me getting back my bag. We waited for another ten minutes and during that short period we tried to trace out the name of the conductor and his mobile number. We were successful in knowing his name but unfortunately no one had his mobile number. These ten minutes really showed the hospitality and the helping nature of Keralites. Yes, they were very helpful and almost everyone was doing his bit to help me. After ten minutes the bus came and almost everyone in the depot were standing with us and the conductor of the bus got down with a black Belkin backpack in his hand. Yes, this was my bag. Thank god I have retrieved the most valuable thing in my life. The depot manager warned me about my callousness and asked me to be more careful from then on. Yes, it was purely due to my carelessness that all this happened and this experience taught me some of the greatest lessons of life and I thanked everyone who cared for my bag in the depot. Then slowly we walked out of the depot. I was so much relieved that I sat on the road with tears in my eyes. Then we took the bus back to our area, had a good dinner and then got back to the room. This unexpected incident turned that Friday, an unforgettable day.

After All, I am Proud to be A SASTRITE.......

It was April, 2007. I had completed my final +2 examinations and was busy preparing for various entrance tests that were going to be held by several prestigious institutions in the country. I consider myself a courageous person for selecting IIT’s, India’s most respected institutes of technology as my goal after successfully completing my class 10. Even though I was unaware of the competition, I felt I was destined to be in the nation’s premier institution for my standards. With all this in mind I started my preparation for IIT-JEE, AIEEE and other such examinations. Although I was a visionary at the initial stages, I slowly recognized my capabilities, strengths and more importantly weaknesses which made me more of a realist than a visionary in the later stages of the Intermediate course. These revelations were instrumental in helping me believe that it would be very difficult for me to get through JEE and so I started my preparation more on the lines of AIEEE and was pretty confident of getting a good rank in the all India level. As I was seriously preparing for that exam, I came to know about a university in Tamil Nadu which was admitting the students based on their +2 marks and more importantly it was in the top hundred engineering colleges’ list. The name of the university was SASTRA University located at Thanjavur.

Though I was preparing well for the competitive exams, some part of my brain was eagerly waiting for the results of my +2 examinations after coming to know about such a generous and at the same time good university. This was not due to lack confidence but having an alternative always comforts human beings and I was no different. The results were out and I had scored well and that implied that there was an option of me getting into Sastra even if I could not crack the AIEEE, but this assurance helped me work more freely and so I was able to take the test with more confidence and I did pretty well in the examination also. Finally when the results were out even though I got a respectable rank, I came to know that it would not help me to get a seat in the NIT’s and it could only get an admission into a university like Sastra. That was it and I firmly made up my mind to join Sastra University based on my +2 marks. I was quick on applying for the same and somehow got into ECE department, SASTRA University, although it was nearly the last seat in the department. Not to mention, the total fee to be paid was almost equal to the amount that could be sufficient for 2 students to pursue B.Tech in a normal engineering college.

All the engineering colleges were starting classes either in late July or early August but Sastra started the classes for the first years in late June. That was indeed a shock as I had other thoughts of enjoying the holidays, which unfortunately became too few. I reluctantly started to the college. I had some expectations about an engineering college and I was very eager to know whether my college would stand up to my expectations. I did not know whether the expectations were wrong or the college was not up to the mark but I had started off with a slight disappointment. The college was ragging free and it was literally as there were no serious ragging sessions and we, the freshmen felt secured. The hostel was livable but, it was definitely not a luxury. The food was hygienic and that was the only positive quality one could find in it. I have to be fair here in mentioning that there were some good days when we had tasty food but mind you those days were too few.  Then the academic course structure started to take its toll on us. There were some really strict professors and the marks became scantier as the semester came to the end. The end semester was not that difficult and we got through it relatively easily. Finally coming to the results, here Sastra should be lauded for the consistency in the process of evaluation and it was as good as any university in the country. Coming to the end semester holidays, they were also too few. This made me feel like to be in Sastra for four years would be an achievement in itself. Then in the even semester we had the Daksh, national level tech fest and the only thing that caught my attention was the Robot race which was indeed eye catching. Later I came to know that the path laid for that particular event was the biggest of its kind in Asia and this struck a chord with in me to regard Sastra as something in the technical arena rather than nothing. Then there was KurukSastra, a cultural fest that attracted many participants from Tamil Nadu and it was good.

Electronics and communication department at Sastra has had a special importance as it was not only the most sought after dept but also the toughest course in the university. Though the course structure was a reason, the professors and their methods made it the toughest. There were assignments, a lot of them and fortunately we needed little effort as we were better copiers than the photo copy machine itself. Apart from these we had the lab sessions with some stringent and at times senseless rules which made the life harder and never forget the saga of the khakhi dress. The labs at the outset looked easier on condition that the staff was good, but every end semester practical was a battle and if the external was someone like the dean then they would be the most violent battles one could ever conceive. Then coming to the rules and regulations at the hostels, they were the most any hostel can have and we, were the most patient inmates for following them and living accordingly as that needed the perseverance of a saint. These rules increased when there was an unfortunate mishap and frankly those were the most testing conditions to live as a free human being.

The happiest time one had on campus was undoubtedly the weekends and during the fests, if you get involved. The tech fest and the cultural fest were the best platforms to interact with friends and more importantly juniors and I was lucky to get into my university’s cultural team in the final year. We had a fantastic time visiting the VIT University and our joy knew no bounds after winning the overall title. It was the time spent with the team that was more satisfying than the victory. This achievement had another advantage for us, Team Telugu lits, as it confirmed our permanence on campus. This rejuvenated us and it was our turn to conduct our cultural fest and hence the preparation started. This was indeed one of the best moments of my college life, as I had some very special moments with my dearest friends which if I start describing here will make this elongated article, a short novel. This was the time I got to know some of my junior friends who were too good and it is due to them that I want to visit Sastra if I get a chance now. The time spent then was indeed something unforgettable and a total description of that is also not feasible here and now.

 Then we come to the final frontier, our placements. It was a known fact that the placement record of Sastra University was good and TCS was the main employer, but we never expected that TCS, India’s best IT services company would rope in 1359 candidates from Sastra itself. This came as a pleasant surprise and almost everyone of our batch were placed in due course of time and we were a happy bunch getting out of the college. After passing out in May, 2011, I have joined TCS in July and there was another pleasant surprise waiting for me there. I came to know that we were given Engineering services as our horizontal and not the IT services. This was something special because the apprehension of studying something and working in some other stream was bothering me to an extent and this unexpected gesture of TCS made me more grateful to Sastra. Yet another surprise to us was that the 25^th convocation at Sastra was presided over by none other than Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, the former president of India. He was nothing short of awesome in his speech and everyone in the meeting was inspired by his words. I feel lucky to be there and it was due to Sastra that it was possible for me to see such a great personality and draw inspiration from.  

 Then I have learnt that Sastraites were among the respected lot in TCS because of their capability to work harder. I heard one of my seniors saying that the work in TCS is far less difficult compared to the torture we undergo as an ECE student at Sastra and I feel it is true. I owe a lot to the college as they taught us the way to work and work well.I may not be an IITian, I might not have been placed in Google but I am proud to be a Sastraite for making me what I am. I would like to end this long essay saying something which I never intended to say when I was in the college, I Love You SASTRA……………